How to Set Up QoS on an ASUS Router for Kixie

Quality of Service (QoS) tells your router to prioritize voice traffic over everything else on your network. If calls break up when someone starts a large download or a video call, QoS is usually the fix.

These steps are for ASUS routers, which use a Traffic Manager section. Other manufacturers call the same feature QoS, Traffic Shaping, or Bandwidth Control, and the principle below applies to all of them even though the menus differ.

Before you start

Go to speedtest.net and run a speed test. Write down your upload and download speeds. You will need both numbers in step 4.

Set up QoS

1. Open a web browser and go to your router's admin address. On most ASUS routers this is http://192.168.1.1.
2. Sign in with your router's administrator credentials. If nobody has changed them, they are usually printed on a label on the underside of the router. If you cannot sign in, your IT team or whoever set up the network will have them.
3. Open the Traffic Manager section.
4. Turn QoS on, then set the upload and download bandwidth to 90% of the speeds you measured. Leaving 10% of headroom is what allows the router to hold traffic back when the line is busy, which is the whole point of QoS. Click Apply.
5. Open the User-defined QoS Rules page and delete the existing rules. The defaults are built for streaming and gaming rather than voice.
6. Add a rule that gives Kixie's voice traffic the highest priority. The IP addresses and port ranges to use are listed in Network and Firewall Setup for Kixie, which is kept current. Click Apply.
7. Under user-defined priorities, make sure the priority level you assigned to that rule sits above general web browsing and file transfer.
8. Click Apply.

Check that it worked

Place a Kixie call while someone else on the network runs a large download or joins a video call. If the call stays clear, QoS is doing its job. If it still breaks up, the next thing to check is SIP ALG, which should be switched off: see Disabling SIP ALG for Ideal Call Quality.

For the full picture on what a healthy connection looks like, see Ideal Conditions for the Kixie Dialer.